IT'S still early doors in the Yorkshire Premier Division title chase but with the half-way point to the season looming ever closer, Moorends-Thorne Marauders secured a comfortable but important victory of their old foes Batley Boys to keep well in touch with the leading pack.

The Marauders saw their early pressure thwarted on several occasions by the referee allowing the visitors to lie on and interfere at just about every play the ball.

The breakthrough came in the tenth minute when Alex Palmer and Wayne Rafferty had penetrated deep into the visitors' territory and a quick play the ball by the latter saw Ryan Rafferty jumping from acting half, his contact spin and off-load found Ben Hofmann who crashed over from five-metres out, Ryan Rafferty added the extra points, 6-0.

Batley Boys looked a good footballing side going forward and it took robust tackling by Greg Neill to stop several threatening attacks dead in their tracks.

The Boys finally crossed the whitewash after firing the ball quickly to the right before a neat inside ball by Aidan Lister to Andy Corrigan to cross and force the ball down despite the attention of Gaz Everton and
Adam Lloyd, 6-4.

Five minutes later, Batley stunned the Marauders when a sweeping movement down the left saw Johnny Steinburn crossing for a try converted by Craig Newsome, 6-10.

The last 20 minutes of the first half saw the ball moving up and down the field in a game that was never allowed to explode into a classic due to the policing of the play the ball area.

However, the Marauders did achieve the break they where working hard to find on the half-hour mark.

The ball was spun through several pairs of hands to the Marauders left which included a couple of very long balls, the final pass found Jason Blanchard who ghosted over in the corner, Ryan Rafferty adding the long range touchline kick, 12-10 at half-time.

With an all inspiring half-time team talk ringing in their ears, the Marauders came out of the blocks knowing that a further 40 minutes of
the same aggressive defence and quick play the balls in attack should see them home with two more points in the bag.

It was the visitors who stunned the home team with a quick fire try after just four minutes, Johnny Steinburn again finding the try line again from the acting half position, Craig Newsome added the extra points, 12-16.

It took just two minutes after their sharp shock for the Marauders to edge back in front.

Wayne Rafferty who over the last two weeks has started to look a class forward, and the aggressive running of Ben Hofmann and Gaz Everton, built a fantastic attacking platform which enabled Ryan Rafferty to scoot from acting-half back and dart through the retiring defence to dive over for a try he converted himself, 18-16.

The Marauders' play-makers finally started to find room and stepped up to take control of the game.

Mark Roach and Ryan Rafferty combined to find Wayne Green whose pace and illusive running saw him carving through the tiring defence to score in the corner, 22-16.

Moorends were starting to be allowed to play the ball more quickly as the visitors started to tire, again Ben Hofmann and Gaz Everton punched through taking three and four defenders to halt the big fellows, Kev Lake made it to within five-metres of the try line, his quick play the ball allowed Ryan Rafferty the opportunity to dart over, again converting his own try, 28-16.

Big Shaun Carver caused the damage for the next Marauders score, crashing the ball in.

It took six players to halt the wrecking ball, who popped the ball out of the back door for David Travis who showed great leg drive to carry three defenders over for a debut try, Ryan Rafferty converted, 34-16.